India on Sunday described the UN human rights’ agency’s remarks expressing concern at the detention of thousands of protesters in New Delhi as unwarranted and an unacceptable interference in internal affairs, and accused the body of “extreme selectivity” in its response to events in the region.
The remarks by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about the events in New Delhi are “unwarranted and constitute an unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of India”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement. The ministry accused OHCHR of having “an approach of extreme selectivity” in its public positions, and noted that violent responses to protests in India’s neighbourhood had “gone uncommented, as indeed have law enforcement actions in its own vicinity”. In a statement issued in Geneva on Saturday, OHCHR expressed concern at “reports of mass detentions in India of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists” during large-scale demonstrations in New Delhi. Indian authorities should ensure law enforcement forces “exercise utmost restraint in response to peaceful protesters”, consistent with democratic traditions and human rights obligations. “All those arbitrarily detained must be immediately and unconditionally released,” OHCHR said.
